_This spring, the Toledo Museum of Art will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Harvey Littleton's seminal 1962 Toledo Workshop by offering three artists the opportunity to realize a contemporaryproject using a furnace modeled after the one that Littleton and DominickLabino developed 50 years ago. It was this small-scale furnace design that made the Studio Glassmovement possible.

To honorthepast and celebrate the future of glass, selected members of a new generation of artists who directly experiment with the material in their own way will be chosen for this project. It was direct experimentationwith the material that drove Harvey Littleton's quest to make glass available to artists working in a studio setting.The residents will begin by participating in the building of a 1962 style furnace.

The artists submitting the top three proposals will have theopportunity to realize their projects at the ToledoMuseum of ArtGlass Pavilion. The selection will be made by Jutta-Annette Page, Toledo Museum of Art curator of glassand decorative arts; Jeff Mack, Toledo Museum of Art glass studio manager, and Andrew Page, director of the Robert M. MinkoffFoundation, which is a co-sponsor of this event.

On June 13, 2012, Glass Art Society Conference attendees arriving for registration will have the opportunity to view a rough cut of a film about the 2012 Toledo Workshop Revisited artist residency that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Toledo Museum of Art Workshop in 1962 that launched the Studio Glass movement.

This hour-long film by Derek Klein, which was produced by the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, follows resident artists Amber Cowan, Kim Harty, and Matt Szosz as they build a 1962-style furnace and attempt to realize their contemporary art projects using 50-year-old technology and tools. Mixing history with an exploration of process of three contemporary artists who represent a new approach to the material of glass, the documentary shows two generations separated by 50 years but united in the search for expression in glass. Showtimes for the documentary on Wednesday, June 13th, are 12:30 PM, 2 PM, and 3:30 PM in the Park Inn Hotel ballroom adjacent to the registration desk for the conference. Admission is free.

Put yourself in the shoes of the Studio Glass pioneers. In March 2012, a 1962-style furnace was built during an artist residency at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original workshop. That same rebuilt furnace will be up and running during the Glass Art Society conference at Jack Schmidt Studios at 340 Morris Street in downtown Toledo and available to conference attendees. The furnace is being made available with support from the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, which co-sponsored the Toledo Workshop Revisited Residency together with the Toledo Museum of Art.

EXPERIENCED glassblowers can check it out free of charge during the hours listed below. Just like for the participants in the 1962 workshop, the furnace itself will serve as the glory hole and annealing will be available in vermiculite-filled cans. Access to the furnace is on a first-come, first-serve basis, and any work left to anneal is at your own risk. Any finished work must be picked up.

In March 1962, visionary artist Harvey Littleton held a seminar at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, to prove that glass could be used as a material for individual artistic expression. He debuted a breakthrough design for a small glass furnace that effectively liberated the material from the factory and unleashed new possibilities for sculpture. Fifty years later to the day, as part of a commemorative artist residency, a similar glass furnace has been reconstructed brick by brick at the Toledo Museum of Art by three selected artists, all of whom directly experiment with the material in ways that engage the larger contemporary art dialogue. Here we present some photos from the first experiments of the three resident artists. Matthew Szosz (MFA, RISD), Kimberly Harty (MFA, Art Institute of Chicago, expected 2013), and Amber Cowan (MFA, Tyler School of Art), all delve into the material properties of glass.

UPDATE 3/23/2012The Furnace Rebuild Takes Shape

At 10 AM Friday, March 23rd, 2012, the three Toledo Workshop Revisted artist residents(pictured L to R standing on the unbuilt furnace's metal base: Amber Cowan, Matthew Szosz, and Kimberly Harty) set to work rebuilding by hand a furnace modeled after the one used by Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino for the Toledo Workshop 50 years ago to the day. Project consultant and Toledo-area artist Jack Schmidt surprised the crew with a donation of a dozen 40-year-old furnace bricks that had been given to him by Fritz Dreisbach in 1972 but were never used. These would become the bed of the tank. The residents worked from plans developed by Jack and Glass Pavilion studio manager Jeff Mack, who, together with Robert M. Minkoff Foundation director Andrew Page, conceived of the project. A few wrinkles needed to be worked out -- a dent in the steel plate had to be hammered out, a gap between the bricks and the frame was filled with milled two-by-fours, and bricks were cut to fit -- but little by little, the furnace rose in height as course after course of brick was stacked. By evening, it was ready for lighting. The Toledo Museum of Art facilities staff triple-checked the propane lines and redundant safety features on the air and fuel mixer (one of the few concessions to 2012 technology). By 7:30 PM, the brick structure was lit with orange flame as it heated all night in preparation for being charged Saturday morning.

Dan Schwoerer, the owner of Bullseye Glass and a former student of Harvey Littleton, visited the residency with his wife, Lani McGregor, and they were on hand most of the afternoon, offering advice and technical analysis of the Johns Manville #475 marbles that would be melted here in homage to the original workshop. Robert Minkoff, managing trustee of the nonprofit foundation that bears his name and is co-sponsoring the event, was also present and offered his expertise in engineering. In the morning, Toledo Museum of Art curator of glass and decorative art Jutta Page took the residents on a tour of the new exhibit area of the Glass Pavilion before the day's events got underway. As the furnace was completed, museum-goers observed and asked questions of the residents and staff. Stay tuned for further updates as the project continues ...

LEFT: Matt Szosz and Amber Cowan look on as Kim Harty takes a measurement of the first course of bricks.
RIGHT: Toledo Museum of Art master glassblower Leonard Marty discusses the arch with Amber Cowan and Matt Szosz.

The bricks continue to rise as the residents near completion. A frame of angle irons and the archway over the top remain to be added.

UPDATE 2/17/12Three Artist Residents Selected

Three artists (pictured L to R: Kim Harty, Matthew Szosz, and Amber Cowan) have been chosen to participate in the Toledo Workshop Revisited artist residency that will take place at the Toledo Museum of Art from March 22nd through March 31st. The project is being co-sponsored by the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation and the Toledo Museum of Art. A panel made up of Jutta-Annette Page, curator of glass and decorative arts at the Toledo Museum of Art; Jeff Mack, director of the glass studio at the museum's Glass Pavilion; and Andrew Page, director of the Robert M. Minkoff Foundation, chose from nine proposals submitted by invited artists. For more on each artist and their proposal, please see the "The Resident Artists" section of the Website.

The 2012 Toledo Workshop Revisited Artist Residency

Dates of Residency: March 22 - March 31, 2012Public Events: The invited residents will deliver a lecture about each of their projects during a special commemorative event honoring the 50th anniversary of Studio Glass on Friday, March 30th from 6:30 - 8 PM. From March 27th - 30th, the public can view the residents at work during regular museum hours (12 - 4 PM) in the Glass Pavilion. In addition, artists will participate in interviews and other documentary efforts.Admission: The Toledo Museum of Art is free to visitors.